An Antonio Sanabria penalty won the match for Sporting Gijon which leaves Gary Neville still looking for his first win in La Liga as Valencia manager.
Valencia fail to capitalise with an abundance of first half chances.
Neville’s side went into the break against Sporting Gijon goalless, after Valencia couldn’t find the back of the away sides net.
After dominating the first period with a total of 63% possession and having accumulated nine shots, the home side should have been up by a couple of goals at least.
The team from Asturias showed resilient defending as they kept Los Che at bay, however only Valencia had themselves to blame as they missed chances that should have been scored considering the quality of their side.
Valencia got off to a flying start when Andre Gomes put Alvaro Negredo one-on-one with Gijon goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar, but the Spanish striker could only shoot wide.
After returning to the side following a recent injury spell, Sofiane Feghouli had a chance to score when Pablo Piatti set him up, but Feghouli sent the ball over the cross-bar, albeit on his weak foot.
Aymen Abdennour then had a chance to put his side in the lead when Piatti curled in a free-kick, but the Tunisian defender completely miss timed his shot and missed the ball.
Gijon goalkeeper Cuellar was called into action after a neat interchange between Gomes and Piatti, but Cuellar saved well after the shot from Piatti.
Another chance for Abdennour came when Piatti whipped in a free-kick which was met powerfully, but Abdennour headed well over the cross-bar.
Just before the half hour mark, Sporting Gijon had their first chance of the game, when Carlos Carmona crossed the ball into the Valencia box, Gijon striker Tonny Sanabria met the ball but headed the ball into the crowd.
Valencia then had three chances in very quick succession to score when Cuellar saved a shot from Negredo and then Ognjen Vranjes blocked Feghouli and Jose Gaya’s attempted rebounds.
Antonio Sanabria snatches the three points away from Valencia
Into the second half and Sporting Gijon started the brighter of the two teams, especially when Jony was tripped inside the box by Danilo.
Gijon’s young Paraguayan striker, Sanabria stepped up and calmly slotted the ball beyond Australian Mathew Ryan.
Moments after, the Rojiblancos almost went 2-0 up when Jony struck a freekick that seemed destined for the top corner, but Ryan prevented that from happening with a wonderful flying save.
Negredo had a glorious chance to make it 1-1 when he met a Feghouli corner, but the Spaniards header crashed back off the post.
The match went quiet until the final 10 minutes, when Negredo had two chances in very quick succession. The first came when he was one-on-one with Cuellar, but his shot hit the side netting.
The best chance of the game for Los Che came when Gaya squared the ball for Negredo who had the easy job of placing it into an open goal, but he blazed the ball well over the bar.
Minutes later, a cross from Zakaria Bakkali, who had been a live spark since coming off the bench, scraped the head of another substitute, Rodrigo, the Spanish attackers header just drifted wide of the post.
1-0 to the away side, Valencia should have won considering they dominated the game, but a very poor display of finishing cost Neville’s side and the English man is still searching for that elusive first win in La Liga.
The win for Sporting Gijon moves them up to 16th position, two points off the bottom three and the loss for Valencia sees them drop down to 12th position, only six points off the bottom.
Next up for Valencia is an away trip to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and for Gijon is a home tie against Depotivo La Coruna.